East Texas, home to a large English language learner (ELL) population, is the setting for a successful program that offers students support for both language development and subject-matter learning. In this article, the authors examine why East Texas is so successful in closing the achievement gap of its minority students. The authors also describe the instructional strategies employed by a successful ELL teacher named Tara. Summarized in this article are important lessons the authors learned about addressing the achievement gap and connected these lessons to research. These lessons include: (1) Lesson 1: Scaffold language instruction throughout the content areas; (2) Lesson 2: Be familiar with a variety of instructional strategies; and (3) Lesson 3: A positive sociocultural climate and high expectations equal high ESL academic achievement. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)